Bihar opposition parties demand Laloo Yadav's arrest

Several opposition parties in Bihar, including the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, have demanded the arrest of Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav in connection with the fodder scam.

The demand was made by BJP state unit general secretary Yashonandan Singh, Congress state chief Sarfraz Ahmad, and Ranjit Abhigyan, general secretary of the All-India Students Organisation, a frontal Organisation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist).

The opposition leaders said that while three legislators had been arrested even before a chargesheet was filed against them, Yadav had been spared despite ample evidences against him.

The leaders have charged the Central Bureau of Investigation with dancing to the tune of the federal government and the state chief minister.

Yashonandan Singh said that the BJP would at no cost allow the investigation to be obstructed by the ruling Janata Dal regime.

Ahmad accused the CBI of adopting a double standards in the fodder investigation.

He said the three legislators were kept in judicial custody for one or two documentary evidence collected by the CBI against them. If the CBI failed to arrest the chief minister it had no moral right in depriving the three legislators from getting bail, he added.

Ahmad said the Congress had suspended its arrested legislator, Jagdish Sharma, from the primary membership of the party and similar steps were taken by the BJP. He demanded to know why the Janata Dal had not so far suspended its legislator, R K Rana, or asked its leader, Laloo Prasad Yadav, to step down.

Abhigyan said his organisation would launch a mass movement for the arrest of Yadav.

Meanwhile, in a volte face, Yadav has expressed full faith in the judiciary and the CBI.

When contacted by some reporters in Patna, Yadav alleged that a conspiracy had been hatched against him and a biased move was on to chargesheet him in connection with the scam.

When asked about the demand of the opposition parties for his arrest on the ground that three legislators had already been arrested in connection with the scam, Yadav said any such move would amount to prejudice and bias which some officials of the CBI were nursing against him.

Calling off his state unit's call for Bihar bandh (general strike) on January 16, the chief minister said such steps were useless as the party which is ruling should not take any such decision.

UNI